MMA_Jim

Yeah, right? Except "If you doubt my training, come and train with me firsthand" becomes "I cant let anyone know who I am because they'll hack my account." The only two people in the world documented as having over 100 professional wins are Dan Severn and Travis Fulton. Traditional Ju Jitsu does have tournaments which resemble MMA somewhat, but with more rules and restrictions. Im willing to bet thats where his "MMA record" comes from.

How convenient. You make such an incredible claim but allow no way for verification. On the forums I just want to be MMA_Jim myself, so that means that I cant make any claims about what I've accomplished if Im not willing to verify who I am.

Thats all Im making sure of. Im hardly the type of person to travel long distances to settle a battle of egos. If you've fought you've been on the receiving end of a takedown. So all that aside, you can slow your roll. On a side note if you have been fighting since 1990, that puts you somewhere around 40+ and I'll hardly prove anything by beating someone nearly twice my age. My point is already proven- you're aware of the importance (and effectiveness) of takedowns. So avoid talking tough online- you're the one that made the statement regarding that ("Oh I wont go to the ground"). Since the only person with more than 100 professional wins is Travis Fulton, Im willing to bet you're talking mostly about Military Combatives tournaments, which is fought by amateurs under amatuer rules. You apparently do well, but you're not impressing me with your boasting-Im not some amateur. The same rules apply to you as well- if you're going to make such blanket statements like you did Im going to call you out on it. Saying you "wont go to the ground" is like saying "I wont get hit."

Well, the thing is no one made a post attempting to discredit JJJ in any way. He just decided he wanted to make a post and attempt to flame BJJ. The problem is he doesnt know what hes talking about. I never made a post that say "this style sucks compared to BJJ" but if you want to try to rag on the style then you're just asking to be put in your place. And seriously, another person who just "doesnt go to the ground." Against a scrub on the street, maybe. But if you really think you cant be taken down, then I seriously doubt your training. To give you food for though- Josh Koscheck is a 4 time Division 1 All American Wrestler. So was Matt Hughes. Brock Lesner was also a D-1 wrestler. Wrestlers are THE BEST takedown artists in the world- bar none. As such, they're also the best at defending takedowns, given their intimate knowledge of them. These guys still get taken down- do you seriously think your wrestling is better? If so go ahead and compete in the Olympics win a gold medal, and then retire on the money of all the endorsements you'll make as a result.

Someones been getting a little hot watching the UFC... Ok well to address some of your issues-ps1 did a good job refuting most of your topics, so I wont rehash too many of them, but I will address a few... 1-That BJJ is merely a sport- You realize that BJJ was created to be a purely street self defense style, right? BJJ was innovated in the early 1900's- UFC didnt come about until 1993. There were many fights that the Gracies were involved in, and they were all street fights and challenge matches. You hardly get into a fight on the street and stop to say "hey guys, no ball shots, ok?" Get the idea? They fought real actual no holds barred matches. Do you think you're the first person to say "hey, Imma grab your eyes!" I'll tell you what the Gracies said "ok- go ahead and try" and then you end up with a broken arm. In most of their challenge matches, any and all things were allowed and no amount of biting, groin grabbing or eye gouging will help you- that I can promise. I've done challenge matches and have been involved in quite a few fights. Those 3 things are really nothing more than a nuisance at best. As far as BJJ being utilized in the UFC with all the rules, well you also have to realize that most of the rules in the UFC are against grappling styles like BJJ. Most of the rules are in place to keep fighters on their feet banging it out like the american audience likes to see. With fewer to no rules, you end up with much much more grappling than you see nowadays. Aside from that, its a compliment to BJJ (and a discredit to your JJJ) that it can work within a sportive environment. That shows that BJJ is flexible and able to work under numerous circumstances. 2- Assuming you "let" the BJJ fighter take you down.... We're not asking your permission You can try a challenge match at any BJJ school. More than just tell you that they're going to take you down, they (at least I) will tell you exactly what else is going to happen. It usually goes like this: "You can do whatever you want- punch kick, slam etc- the bjj guy is not allowed to strike on the feet- he will take you down, mount you, and slap you around a little bit." You're not the first person that thought they couldnt be taken down and you wont be the last 3-Fighting witout rules I will usually give you a little forewarning as well for challenge matches- you CAN bite and eye gouge as much as you like, but there are consequences. After all, this is a "real" fight and Im not going to let you get away with "just tap out and thats that." If you try to gouge my eyes, I WILL break your arm and if you try to bite me, I WILL smash every tooth out of your mouth so think thoroughly before you try to do either of those. BJJ'er can fight with or without rules- the style wasnt made for fighting within a ruleset, but what it was made for was to be exceptionally flexible. I can use BJJ against an overaggressive drunk uncle at a family BBQ that I dont want to hurt, or I can use it to stop (or even kill) someone attacking me in a life or death situation. Thats the beauty about BJJ- you can go from 0-10 and back in less than a second and decide just how badly you'd like to hurt your opponent (if at all). THAT is what a quality martial art and being a great fighter is all about- if you're ONLY option is life or death, then you're severely limited. As far as traditional JJJ is concerned, well the average JJJ black belt is equivalent to about a 6 month BJJ white belt on the ground. Thats not so much a slight on JJJ, since that same practitioner could do well in a fight but more of a compliment to the BJJer. This is speaking from numerous experiences, just as others are. Try training in BJJ (or even go and fight one of them if you really want to) and you'll see for yourself. Its no joke

Finger breaks are something that people often take for granted. I've had people attempt to break my fingers before- when I decide to pull away its very difficult to hold on to a small digit. Its something thats much more difficult than people would think (certainly moreso than just "grab the finger and twist").

The Gracies give rank under different circumstances than others, and even then the family doesnt seem to be in total agreement. What most of them do agree on however, is their emphasis on self defense and street applicable jiu jitsu. Thats really one of the main differences between BJJ and GJJ- GJJ has that emphasis on street applicable jiu jitsu moreso than tournament winning jiu jitsu. Some people have accused the Gracies of holding back when they teach, because their students often didnt do well at tournaments- but that was the difference. They taught how to escape headlocks, defend punches on the ground, etc. In the traditional way that the entire family taught things, white belt classes were all self defense classes, with most training being positional training as opposed to the typical type of training where both people start from their knees and do a full match. When someone could demonstrate the appropriate knowledge of all the self defense techniques, they were given their blue belt and were allowed to go to the blue belt and above classes, which is run the way that all schools run a typical class

An athletic 145lbs is borderline weight to knock most people out with bare knuckles. You just need to incorporate impact training (punching bag, punching blocks, makiwara, etc) into your training. I would argue that you can be much lighter than 145 pounds and still knock people out. Here is a quote from an article that I read some time back. "A study of seven Olympic boxers in weight classes ranging from flyweight to super heavyweight showed a range of 447 to 1,066 pounds of peak punching force. Energy transferred from punch to target varied widely depending on how heavy the boxers' hands and gloves were, how fast they punched, and how rigidly they held their wrists. The three flyweights, interestingly, delivered more oomph than all but the two super heavyweights." The full article can be found here: http://www.connectsavannah.com/news/article/102548/ Given that a quick search of the internet will reveal that it is generally agreed that 400 pounds of punching force to the temple will knock just about anybody out, I think that it is safe to say that even a very small person (flyweights are a maximum of 112 lbs) can be a force to be reckoned with, given they have put in the effort to get good at punching. Also, I don't claim to practice karate in it's entirety, but I do study it to an extent, and I don't really think that the "fist chamber" was ever supposed to have anything to do with the generation of power or development of technique in beginners. Rather, I suspect that it was originally intended to be used in a grabbing and pulling manner on the opponents sleeve, lapel, and maybe even bare arm. This is further supported by the fact the the word "Hikite," which is what the "fist chamber" is actually called, translates to "pulling hand." A source to support this includes Choki Motobu's book “Watashi no Karate-jutsu" where Motobu demonstrates the naihanchi kata and then shows some applications. In the applications, Motubu can clearly be seen using the hikite found in the kata to pull his opponent by the arm into his punch, elbow, or block. I am not sure, but I think it was he who said "Never bring your hand back empty." Well, I have to be off to class. Best wishes. Problem with the lightweight test is that in actual matches, I rarely see lightweights knocking anyone out despite having picture perfect techniques. IMO, the lighter a person, the better his skill needs to be. And in an actual fight where both attacker and defender is constantly moving, it's very difficult to pull of a perfect strike.Re the chambered fist. The hitkite hand is universal in every Karate style. But Karate was designed so that a single motion often represents several applications. Therefore, IMO the hitkite hand doesn't preclude the using the chambered hand to generate power particularly since it's being used by the non-striking hand. Currently, I believe that some Shukokai and Shotokan (Asai) schools do use the chambered fist to exaggerate upper body rotation during training in order to generate more power. Granted, but also keep in mind that most of these fights you're watching are between two professionals- a pro against an average joe is a different story altogether. There was a pro's vs joe's episode a few years ago. Twice during this series have they pitted average joe's against pro boxers. First up was Roy Jones Jr, who literally kept his hands at his waists and let the joes take their best shots- while he kept calling them out on their smack talk and eventually just smack them around. He took it easy on them and decided not to knock them out. Not so the second time around- I believe is was Paquiao and if not wa another name 145lb boxer against the joes. Some of the joe's were rather big (about 6'2, 230lb of muscle). This time the boxer decided to hurt the joes, and the speed and power he had showcased that a 145lb guy had no problem whatsoever dropping another person close to twice his size. Its difficult to find online, but if I ever find it again, I'll try to link it so you can watch.

I must've missed that memo then- Ive been in several fights, possibly a few hundreds over the course of the past 7 years. None my opponents lasted more than 10-15 seconds once the fight started, and this was when I was a lowly blue belt. This wasnt because Im a "bad dude" but rather because once I initiated, my opponent couldnt defend simply because they didnt know how. Fighters feel each other out because they know what another fighters skill level is- they've seen lots of video and typically have a certain respect for that fighters skill. Usually a feeling out period is when you throw something at your opponent to see how he reacts. If this guy is completely off balance and has no idea what hes doing (which one can tell very quickly) Im going to throw whatever I want at him and overwhelm him.

Yeah, I misread that part. As far as people not being able to fight for 25 minutes, interesting you bring that up. Because people are not in good shape and because people are not knowledgeable of grappling unless taught, your regular person is going to gas themselves out in about 20 seconds- they may last 30 or 40 if they're in really good shape. A regular hobby practicing grappler can handle that no problem, so after about 20 second a choke sinks in easy as can be (and this is worst case scenario- it usually takes about 5 seconds to lock in a choke). The reason why pro fighters fight for so long isnt because they're deliberately drawing the fight out, but rather because their opponents are so well trained, its very difficult if not impossible to "end the fight quickly." First off, you're trying to convince me of something against MMA by showing me a highlight of.... mma Second, a stomp doesnt need to be practiced. You're missing the point of the argument. Suppose you practice and perfect the ability to stomp a downed opponent- how much will that help you when you have to fight a skilled person? Not that much. Mostly because if you dont have the means to put yourself there, you'll never be in a position to use it. Wanderlei Silva was someone who was reknown for stomping people in the head. What put him in this position so much was his muay thai skills. Most of the people he stomped were already on their way out- he dropped them with strikes on the feet and they were too dazed to defend when they dropped to the ground. Also, the majority of people you're seeing getting stomped are those that are less knowledgable of the ground game. Jiu jitsu guys are reknown for their preference to fight in Japan, mostly because they'll actually give them time to work on the ground. How often do you see a jiu jitsu guy on his back with another guy on top whos hesitant to engage? Thats because if you try to stomp someone who's got some grappling skills, you stand a significant chance of getting caught in a footlock or a sweep. Not saying that it cant be done, but again you see guys back away from people that are on their backs for a reason. Now do the rules change things? Of course they do. Elbows allow alot of people in UFC to go for cut stoppages and boring G&P that doesnt do anything to threaten the person on bottom, but just opens up their face just enough to stop the fight. Stomping a downed opponent- yeah I'd like to see that one legal in the states too, but thats something that tends to work against those who arent good grapplers rather than the other way around. Theres a saying that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, and in the world of martial arts this is no exception. The most entertaining form of fighting I've ever heard of was "thug-jitsu." What you end up with is a bunch of people who train in bjj just long enough to get their blue belts, and then they think they know the ins and outs of the ground game. Then they try to make changes and "develop their own system" when they barely know the basics of the ground game. If something were grossly effective I would be training in it. Why dont I train eye gouges, groin shots, and biting? Well mostly because the delivery system and not the technique is the deciding factor. I can eye gouge much better than someone who's been practicing it for 20 years, because my grappling skills will put me in a position to allow me to do pretty much whatever I want.

IMO, in a real fight it would be wise to finish the attacker as fast as possible because while you're going to get cute and dance around him and show off your skills, he'll have time to pull out a knife and cut your liver out. Well duh Name one martial art style that advocates drawing a fight out to a long tedious unnecessary altercation. Again another marketing gimmick where people dont use common sense when thinking about it: "we train to end the fight quickly" EVERYONE trains to end the fight quick

I will agree with you that George St. Pierre is an amazing athlete and an amazing martial artist, his techniques have been geared towards a sports competition. Due to this he is focusing on certain techniques that may not be totally advisable in a combative situation i.e. a double leg takedown if your are not a law enforcement officer. Therefore im not sure that GSP should be involved in the discussion of the combative effectivness of an art. Just my opinion Because GSP suddenly becomes an incompetent fighter when you're allowed to kick him in the groin or gouge his eyes... There are groin strikes and eye gouges in all fighting styles. BJJ, muay thai, judo- they've all got their "deadly" techniques. The difference between these sport styles and other "combat" styles is that the sport ones have shown their versatility. They dont have to rely on a particular technique or set of rules. They've proven to be able to adapt to numerous situations, which is of far greater benefit for combat effectiveness than relying on an eye gouge or groin strike. If you're style relies too heavily on one thing (i.e. if I can kick to the groin I cant win a fight) then you're not going to have much success with it. Interesting you bring up a law enforcement officer- a double leg takedown is one of the best things they could learn. They have to take someone down most of the time to restrain them and arrest them. If you dont know how to sprawl, double leg takedown works easy. Once on the ground on your back, if you dont know jiu jitsu you're in trouble. I know plenty of people in law enforcement- grappling is the best thing they can learn. Sprawls save lives, and double leg takedowns work exceptionally well when someone doesnt want to be arrested.

After a certain point alot of it becomes sport specific and you end up learning and utilizing techniques that arent as great of use in a real fight (sugar footing, bobbing and weaving, etc). In order to compete at a high level in boxing, one would have to devote all of their training to boxing, cage fighting experience or not. Most MMA fighters simply dont have that desire. Most instead will do muay thai fights as the similarities and usefullness is greater.

So now "knowledge of vulnerable areas of the body" has expanded beyond eye gouging and groin kicking.... Of course they intentionally taught you wrong, right? After all, it wouldnt cross your mind that perhaps the same instructors just dont know much about fighting. They are BLACK BELTS afterall... Seriously, Im here to tell you how you CAN learn how to put some weight into your punches and kicks, but you choose to not to heed the advice. At the end of the day, its your loss

I wouldnt call attempts to hit the eyes, throat, and groin an "understanding of vulnerable targets." I've discussed those targets in other posts. Ive sparred with plenty of guys who are 145- and some that are smaller. Im sorry to say, it seems as if no one has taught you how to hit properly. Go to a regular boxing gym- I promise you they'll be able to teach you how to hit effectively. Again, Ive seen people train in karate (used as a generic term here) for more than 20 years, and they still dont have a basic understanding of how to throw a cross that a regular hobbyist boxer knows how to do. You can hit hard- you just need someone to teach you how.